Heaven's Side Story
by OldManDempsey
Summary: A private investigator (OC) and Rin Tohsaka look for an object stolen from a magus hiding out in London. Takes place after the Heaven's Feel True Ending, sometime after Rin returns from her trip home and is struggling to gain respect in the Association.
1. Chapter 1

AN: A quick one that I threw together on a whim. I like to think of it as Kara no Kyōkai recovering from a hangover while watching Chinatown. I also wanted to see what would happen if I proofread more than once. I'm going to keep doing that, I think. This was just for fun, so if you find the ride bumpy, just get off, you'll probably be better for it.

Edit 4/10/13: Some people have requested that I keep going with these, so there will be more. However, I feel every story or "case" should be it's own separate entity, so I'll name them HSS: Insert Story Name Here from now on. And because of this, I've decided to rename this one. The second story, in case you want to read more before the third goes up, is called Where Shadows Run From Themselves (just like that) and is already up on this site.

* * *

The Things We Do  


* * *

It was a dark and stormy night.

What a pain in the ass.

I was stopped on the sidewalk, staring in disbelief at my now damp cigarette. One lone raindrop had somehow managed to slip in between the awnings I had been walking under, landing perfectly on the cherry. I fumbled for a new one and my matches, managing to hold my curses behind my teeth. A great feat, but it didn't impress anyone, including myself. Once re-lit, I made sure to cup my hand around my last smoke as I walked. I was never in the best of moods at any time, but nicotine deprivation coupled with another meeting with Miss Tohsaka always produced something that tasted sour and watered down. It still managed to get me dizzy, though. I was going to need to be on my best behavior if I was going to land this job, or at the very least land on my feet. I hadn't had any work in a month, and I had bills to pay. I might not have been able to smile, but I at least needed to prove my competence. It was going to be an uphill battle, especially after they saw I had stumbled out of my apartment without an umbrella and still hungover.

London had never looked cheery to me, even less so in that rain, but at least the thunder and lighting added a bit of life to it. That section of town especially needed every drop it could get. The recession had hit them hard; it was only nine o'clock, but only a few people had the gall to light their homes.

Rin Tohsaka stood outside the dingy hotel, clad in a red overcoat, with her black hair tucked into it to keep it dry. Under the coat was a red dress shirt, completely closed, with a red jeweled brooch peeking out from under the collar. A long dusky red skirt hugged her hips, and you could see black stockinged ankles and brown leather loafered feet sticking out the bottom. She reminded me of the little red flag matadors wave in front of tired bulls. I wondered if there were any gray bulls in the world. In my dismal and nearly all gray ensemble, I sure as hell felt like one.

She had been staring down at a pocket-watch, and the average passerby would think her trendy, but I knew better. We all had cell phones, but high-tech for her was that pocket-watch. She snapped it closed and looked up, catching me in her sour look and crossing her arms. She spoke tartly, "You're late." She tended to speak in short sentences, being that I hadn't been the only one who had pointed out that her English wasn't as good as she originally thought.

"Car's in the shop." I spoke in short sentences because I wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, and because people made fun of my American accent. "Hopefully, if this goes well, I'll have it back."

"You could have taken a bus or something."

I blew smoke out my nose, and I thought of bulls again. "You ever take a bus, Toh-skah?"

She just shook her head and huffed. I had mispronounced it again. Oh well. She turned to the glass double doors leading to the lobby, not bothering to hold them open for me. Whatever, I never considered myself a delicate flower, anyway.

Once inside, though, she flowed across the lobby with grace, carrying herself perfectly straight and elegant, like she was going to meet the Queen. I realized at that moment we were being watched. No other reason for her to put on her polite school-girl act. I had to admit, it was a damn good one. It worked a number on me when I first met her, and it worked for the man with the croaky voice at the front desk. She got our destination from him, and after a few steps we were both packed in a tiny elevator with slimy walls.

We reached our floor and rendezvous without incident. She rapped on the door, and a man in a double breasted black suit opened it. He beamed at Tohsaka and I, and waved us in, "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show." The smile never left his face. He gave it out easily, like mints or tooth-picks at a restaurant.

Tohsaka spoke, "The storm kept us."

"Ah, it is coming down rather hard tonight," the suit said, and motioned to some chairs in the middle of the room. It was a decent room for the dump it was nestled in. We all sat facing each other.

The suit turned to me, "Now, mister, uh..."

"Michael Christian," I said. "Just call me Mikey."

The suit seemed a bit uneasy, "I think I will keep to Mr. Christian, if you don't mind."

Tohsaka gave me a look, and I said I didn't mind at all.

"Wonderful," the suit said. "Now, I understand that you already know this is a very sensitive situation and proposal."

"Uh-huh."

"And that it would be very appreciated if you didn't say a thing to anyone."

"Something like this would scare away business, not attract it. And let's not talk about my perceived mental health."

"Very good," the suit leaned back and clasped his hands together in his lap. "You've helped Miss Tohsaka in the past, correct?"

"Here and there."

"How did you two find one another?"

I cut Tohsaka off, "She needed a private investigator to tail someone for her, and apparently my reputation was good enough to reach and appeal to her."

The suit cast Tohsaka a bewildered look, and she looked at her lap, faintly blushing. The suit said, "That seems very risky, does it not?"

I decided to be a nice guy, for once, "Things got out of hand because of me. I guess I turned out to be as good as my reputation, and dug a little further than what was expected."

Tohsaka kneaded her hands in her lap.

The suit turned back to me, "Yes, very good, indeed. You managed to take down that madman all by yourself?"

"No-one's bullet proof."

The suit laughed, "Very much so, sir, very much so. It would appear that you are quite the shot."

"Yeah, I guess." I paused for a beat. "I've never been too keen on shooting anyone, really, so I rarely carry. It's also too much trouble with the police. I have my business to think about."

"Yes, the police can be very troublesome," the suit said, and closed his eyes for a moment.

From then on I didn't like him. I thought about the money.

The suit's eyes fluttered open, "It is quite pleasing to hear how humble you are, as well as restrained. What you accomplished was no great feat. You must be a very dangerous foe, maybe one of the most in this circle." He smiled again.

I reflected on that. One time, I had cornered a guy for Tohsaka in a derelict building. He turned to me with a sick smile smeared all over his face, and just started bleeding out of his stomach. He pulled up his shirt as I just stood there like an idiot, showing a gash that had started to tear across him on its own accord. It got so wide and so deep that his torso toppled over backwards, hanging on by only a few strips of skin. Inside his body was nothing but a black void, and then suddenly three enormous snake-like monsters sprung out of it, with no eyes but plenty of sharp teeth, reminding me of the Hydra. The legs started to take steps towards me, the heads started to snap at me, and the torso was dragged behind. The man pointed at me, giving me a leer and a raspy laugh all the while. It was only dumb luck that Tohsaka heard me screaming.

That friggin' thing still followed me in my dreams. No amount of petty flattery was going to stop that.

The suit kept going, "While we usually don't allow people from the 'outside' into our business, we consider you a special case. According to Miss Tohsaka, you are more than capable on helping us with this, given your expertise and ability to blend in. As I said, the police can be so very troublesome."

"As long as it's not illegal, I'm game."

The suit looked aghast, with look being the opportune word, "I wouldn't even think of asking you to break the law. The Association operates mainly through secrecy, and keeping itself in check. We do not wish to make waves, so to speak."

"Uh-huh." I wondered if he had ever seen anyone crawl around on the ceiling with a four foot tongue that had a mouth of its own.

The suit cracked his knuckles, "Alright then, now that we have that out of the way, let's dive right in." He leaned forward, and Tohsaka leaned forward. I wondered if I could smoke in there, then remembered I was out. The suit got serious, "A few days ago, we got word that a magus in this city had either come across or created an object that was immensely powerful. So powerful, in fact, given the nature of the magus in question, we immediately sent agents there to acquire it. This man," he said with a pained smile, "had never been known to be very stable."

Tohsaka flashed her eyes at the suit, "It was Geiss, wasn't it?"

The suit nodded gravely, "Yes, yes it was. What worried us was that he tried to hide it, whatever it was. Unfortunately, when our agents arrived, they found that Geiss's home had been burglarized, and he was dead."

"What?!" Tohsaka snapped. "Who killed him?"

"We don't know, but due to the nature of the robbery, it looked like some local hoods."

Tohsaka leaned back with her arms crossed, "That's completely ridiculous. There is no way some hooligans could get past a magus's defenses and then kill him."

The suit shrugged, "Geiss _was_ very old..."

Tohsaka wasn't having it, and I didn't blame her. She tried to speak, "But even still..."

"Look," the suit said coarsely. "There were signs of a struggle, and other 'normal' valuables were taken. There were defenses on the premises, but I'll tell you now that was _not_ Geiss's workshop. The setup was very rushed, it only rang several bells that he had linked to it."

Tohsaka looked confused, "That's not like him at all."

"It is," the suit said, "when you take into account that the flat was a recent purchase. The man was on the run, in hiding, and evidence suggests that he had been doing so for quite a while. As I said, Geiss was very old, very debilitated. He probably exhausted himself working on that simple boundary field, then turned in. That night was the break in."

"That's still very coincidental," I said. "Also, why kill him? Did Geiss happen to get any of the house-breakers?"

"Possibly," the suit said. "There was a large splatter of blood that wasn't Geiss's, that may have been one of the burglars at one point."

"Very like Geiss," Tohsaka muttered.

"Regardless, the object in question was taken by whoever did Geiss in. As I said before, Mr. Christian, your profession and relations with, let's say 'non-Associates,' make you an ideal candidate for this, does it not?"

I ignored him, "Why was Geiss running?"

The suit shrugged, "It was probably from us. We've had several 'incidents,' you see."

"Don't you usually not care what anyone does?"

"Not when people start missing en masse," Tohsaka grunted. "Geiss always had a problem with 'moderation.'"

"Ah." I rubbed my temples. I still didn't buy it, and I had a sneaking feeling neither did Tohsaka, but I thought about the money for the hundredth time. She probably thought of what was left of her career. I'd had too many drunken nights with her banging on about on how much she loved her friggin' sister. Neither one of us really had much choice in the matter. I spoke, "So, we get the thing back, and turn it in?"

"Miss Tohsaka will turn it in and hopefully handle it, but yes, you are very much correct."

"Goodie. Also, what does this thing do?"

"We haven't the slightest idea, and that's why we want it."

Spoken like a true magus. I managed to keep my hands from my temples, "Well, I guess I'll keep my eyes open." Tohsaka and I started to rise, but the suit raised a hand, "You two will be able to handle this with the utmost care, correct?"

"Yes," I said.

"Are you sure?" the suit asked.

"Yes."

"Very sure?" The serious face was back.

I smirked at it. "Verily."

Tohsaka grabbed me by the arm and ushered me out.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where do we start?" I grumbled as we ambled into an all-night convenience store.

"I was hoping that you would know."

I slapped money on the counter and the cashier slapped a new pack into my hand. Outside again, I lit up, and Rin nursed some cheap tea. I puffed smoke and said, "Where'd this Geiss guy get it?"

"According to what we have here," she nodded at a manilla folder, "it's only a few blocks off."

"And we think it's locals, right?"

"Not really, but there is a good chance someone hired them to do their dirty work."

"Yep, send in the shovel-heads first." That made sense. Point at the place, and wait for the screams. My thoughts focused on me for a second, but then I refocused on the other idiots. The person behind it could slip in after them, maybe, and snatch what they needed. Or if the morons were lucky, they might deliver it themselves. They could be rid of afterward. But would you still kill Geiss? I turned to Rin and asked her what I was thinking.

She stared at her tea, "I don't know. There really wouldn't be any point to it, unless he saw your face. Or if you hated him enough." She took a sip and shrugged, "Maybe the hoods got him. Geiss _was_ very old, and he loved to boast. I can see him getting over-confident after liquifying one of them, and maybe another getting mad and then doing him in."

"How'd he get it? Anything on that there?" I nodded at the envelope.

"The police report says stabbed at the back and base of the neck."

I huffed a laugh, "That's pretty over-confident."

"Verily, it is." She hid her smile pretty good, and slipped the envelope into her overcoat.

We started towards the flat, not looking to poke our noses in it, but instead see who ran what when it came to the thugs around there. The air was cool, and it had stopped raining. There weren't many people outside.

Despite what the Association thought of me, I really didn't know anything when it came to pretty criminals, except the basics they all shared: stupid, scared, reckless, and had too much to prove. There were only a precious few leads I could come up with, and we would just have to hope we would get lucky.

We wandered for a bit before stopping in front of a pawn shop. I turned to Tohsaka, "This guy won't be open much longer, so we'll have to make this quick. You got any cash on you? I'm sort of doubting we'll have anything this guy wants, otherwise."

She fumbled for a wallet and started counting, "You know him?"

"Not really personally, but I've dealt with him a few times. He stays open later than most, and he also sells bits and pieces of information. If he likes you enough."

"Mmmm." She folded the wallet up and put it back, "I don't have much, how about you?"

"Not much either, so let's put on some happy faces."

She smiled at me, and opened the door. I gave her a look, "I think that's more liable to creep him out."

"You never know, that might work too." She walked in and I followed.

It was a pretty standard setup, with everything locked up behind cages and what looked like shatter-proof glass, except it was deserted. Tohsaka walked up to the front desk, rapping on the cage. It got nothing. I tapped her shoulder and leaned in, "Maybe he's in the back, watching on a camera or something. Pull out that watch."

"What?!"

"We're not going to sell it, we're just going to give him an incentive to come out. Do it casually."

She pulled out the watch, turning it over in her hands. She then walked about the room in an obvious and ridiculous manner, holding it out in front of her. I lit up again with a sigh. She spun on me, "You can't...!"

"Maybe this'll do it too. Stop that, you look like an idiot."

"It was your idea!"

"I never said anything about prancing about."

She growled and put the watch back. We waited roughly fifteen minutes, and no one showed. Tohsaka grew frustrated, and stomped over to a metal door that looked like it led to the back. I raised an eyebrow at her, "What are you doing?"

She pointed behind the counter, "I'm going back there."

"What the hell, Tohsaka?" You see, the usual chemistry in these things is that you have the sensible one and the reckless one, with plenty of playful banter in between. We took pot-shots at each other all the time, but mainly because we weren't very sensible. Reality's a bitch.

She put a finger on the mouth of a large keyhole, "This will take a second."

"What if he comes out with a gun?"

"You'd stop him, right?"

I gave up and stuffed my hands in my pockets. Tohsaka was crouched low, probing the lock with her finger, "Just watch out for a guy with a big..." She stopped, and tensed up.

I walked over to her, "What?"

She gave me a worried glance, then lightly pushed on the door, opening it. She stood, "I didn't do that." She gave me a quick once-over, "Are you carrying?"

"I only have the Sig on me." The gun was a P226, loaded with 9mm rounds, with just a few spare magazines. I personally thought 9mm was good enough (even a tiny .38 was okay to me), but then I ran into what Tohsaka called "normal." As a result I now had a .357 and some other guns suited for taking on elephants, but of course, I didn't have any of that with me. That crap was heavy, bulged out of my overcoat and suit-jacket, and was mostly illegal. Many of these things shrugged off bullets like raindrops, anyway.

Tohsaka gritted her teeth, and stepped through the door, rolling up the sleeve on her right arm. I followed her, and neither of us spoke. We both already knew this was bad news. I still kept the Sig holstered, just in case this did turn into a giant misunderstanding.

We walked past the counter and through another door leading to a cramped hallway. There were a few doors to our right and left, but at the end one was slightly ajar. We hurried over to it, standing on either side of the door frame. We both looked at each other, and nodded. I then flung the door open and burst in, with Tohsaka standing in the doorway pointing her hand about. She lowered it after she caught what I saw.

There were two men in the room. One of them was clearly the muscle, with a massive chest, strong legs, a thick neck, and a permanent stupid look on his face. The other was much shorter, maybe only an inch or two taller than Rin, and thin as a rail. I recognized him as Sal, the owner. The one thing both men had in common was that their stomachs had been completely shredded. Their limbs looked as if they had been bitten by an animal with a huge, wide mouth, but I had no idea on what could do that, and that included the mythological. Blood was everywhere, only just dried.

I scratched my head, "You think this is related?"

Tohsaka closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath, "Yeah, this looks like Geiss's work, alright." She opened them and waved an arm at the remains, "Though with him dead, I have no idea how this happened."

"Maybe something's running amok."

She shook her head and turned from the carnage, "No, they wouldn't have picked us. Hell, they might have even tipped off Executors if something was running loose." She turned to me, her expression grave, "Some_one_ is running amok, though I have no idea how they managed to get Geiss's object to work."

"So one point for magus sends in idiots first, I guess."

She nodded. I walked to the exit, "Let's get out of here before the cops show."

"Wait," she said. "Look, over there."

There was a trail of blood heading towards the back door. Tohsaka went to follow it, but I grabbed her arm, "Don't. It's bad enough we're on CCTV. The police will confiscate the footage, that's why I never bothered pulling the piece. Right now we just look like a couple of morons."

"What do we do?"

"Phone it in anonymously, then hope they don't come looking to ask questions until tomorrow. Can your friends do anything about this?"

"I don't know. Probably."

"Probably?"

She rolled her eyes, "We'll be fine." She squeezed my shoulder and cooed at me, "I promise. Pinky swear?"

I shrugged her off roughly, "We'd better be. Now let's walk out the front and double back to the alley from there. And don't touch anything."

She smirked at me, eying the hand that had crept into my pocket, "And don't smoke, right?"

Beaten again, I led the way back out front, grumbling. We spent a few minutes wandering stupidly until we found the alley connected to the shop. The trail of blood led out to the mouth where we were standing, but by the time it had gotten that far it had subsided to the tiniest dribble. That wasn't what caught our attention, though. Strewn about the alley were various items: silverware, some jewelry, an ornate but smashed clock, and other valuables. Thinking back on it, I realized that this wasn't the only place where I had seen stuff like this thrown around. I had been too distracted by the bodies, but the same sort of mess had surrounded them.

Tohsaka took some cautious steps into the alley, "What the hell?" She knelt in front of the items, furrowing her brow in thought, "Could this be the other things taken from Geiss's flat?"

"I don't know, does it look 'magus-y?'"

She gave me a scowl, then went back to thinking, "Maybe. It... yes, it does have the look."

I nodded, and she stood. It all looked old-fashioned, out of touch, and very expensive. She walked back over to where I was standing, saying, "Hell of a lucky break."

I snorted, "You call this 'lucky?'"

She crossed her arms, "Someone survived, either the attacker or someone else."

I turned from her and let my eyes wander up and down the street. There was no one outside, no convenient bum who'd tell me the story for just a few sips out of my flask. There was a bar up the street, though. I started towards it, and Tohsaka skittered up to my heels, "Where are you going?"

"That place looks shady. I'm thinking people dump stuff off at the shop, then wander up there for a drink."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Been there once. It's a watering hole where dim-witted apes get together to pound their chests and suck at pool." I threw her a look over my shoulder, "Button up that coat, don't let anyone see how wonderful you look tonight. And don't act tough. I don't feel like spending a night in the drunk tank." She struggled with her coat and I tried to make sure the smoke stayed out of my eyes.

The bouncer at the door took one look at us, and I already knew that this wasn't going to happen. He stepped in front of the door, "Sorry, we're at full capacity."

Tohsaka looked stunned, "What?"

"He thinks we're cops," I said.

She raised an eyebrow at me, and the bouncer shifted uncomfortably, saying, "I don't know what ya mean, mister."

"Whatever. So he came here, then?"

He suddenly looked rather pissed, "Yeah. And him, and him, and that guy. What you gettin' at?"

"The guy bleeding all over the place."

Tohsaka grabbed my shoulder, and hissed into my ear, "Did you already forget about the drunk tank?"

The bouncer clicked his teeth, and looked down at me. Down, because he had at least four inches on me. Or whatever the metric equivalent is. He went to speak, but I cut him off, "Look, I get you don't want anyone making this complicated. I don't want this to be complicated, either. I just want to know where the kid went. It's a kid, right?" I got nothing but a stony look. I took a long, hard look at him, and then took a shot in the dark, "You threw him out."

Nothing but the stony look. I grinned, "You told him to get lost, and he stumbled away." I then pointed at the blood faintly staining his pants. He looked down, then swore. I held up my hands, "Easy, easy, buddy. Look, I ain't no cop, but I can just as well tell them that he went up here."

"What good do you think that will do?!"

"I don't think cleanliness is your guys specialty." I stepped forward, "Just tell me the little bastard's name and I won't say anything."

The bouncer gritted his teeth, and stared me down again, "Who are you?"

"Private investigator on a case. It's a manner of inheritance," I said with the sweetest smile I could muster.

The bouncer relented, and leaned in, "Look, don't tell anyone but... ah, hell, his name's Clive."

"What's his last name?"

"I don't know. Honest! He came here, babbling about how he had been double crossed, and needed to lay low, and I told him to get lost. We don't want any attention."

"Who double crossed him?"

The bouncer got serious, "Look, I know trouble when I see it. I didn't want to know, so I didn't listen. I'm glad, because I already got you and maybe the filth coming."

"Did he come here often?" Tohsaka asked.

"A lotta people come here often."

She started to get annoyed, so I butted back in, "Who did he usually come here with?"

"There where four or five of them, usually. They were just runts, running around scrapin' up what little they could to keep the big'uns off their backs."

"Names."

"What?"

I growled, "Listen, dick-wad, you're barely telling me anything, the cozzers are on their way, and if that little runt bleeds out before I can find him... just gimme their goddam names. Now."

The bouncer looked like he had enough. He started to step towards me, practically drooling at the thought of cracking my head open. Rin had enough, too. I tried to stop her, but it was too late. There was a reason why she still wore those girly stockings. She told me once that she could power her limbs up, if she wished, but that was pretty tiring. It was much easier to strengthen her clothing and use it as a second set of muscles.

She gave him a quick forward kick to his gut, sending him back against the wall with a thud. I cocked an eyebrow, "Very impressive. I thought that wasn't your specialty?"

"Shut it." She grabbed the bouncer by the shirt, and snarled, "Names."

"Damn," I said, "I think you're hanging out with me too much."

"I said shut it! And you! Names!"

"Okay! Glorious! Glorious Greg!"

She dropped him, and I started laughing, "Are you serious? 'Glorious' Greg?"

The bouncer looked up with hate in his eyes, "I didn't pick the friggin' name, he calls himself that! He always looked like a stinkin' chav to me..."

"We don't care about that. Where does he usually go."


	3. Chapter 3

We took a quick trip back to my office, and I grabbed my Python .357, and my Taurus Judge, which could either take .45 Colt or 410 shotgun shells. I made sure to take double aught, unlike last time. I left the Sig and dropped my snub-nosed .38 into my pocket. I felt like a battleship.

The bouncer put us on a trail that eventually led to an old, dilapidated and out of use warehouse. Mr. "Glorious" apparently liked to use the place to keep hot items hidden until the time was right. My car still hadn't left the shop, so Tohsaka and I had to huff it out on foot. We both hoped there was nothing too dangerous there, because without my car, there was no way we could make a fast getaway.

Of course, once we started to get close, we heard an ear-splitting scream. We both sighed, then started to run towards the warehouse.

We kicked in a door and stepped in. The clouds had broken, and there was a full moon. Its light fell through some high windows. It didn't light much, but we could see that there were very high racks, mostly empty now, and they stretched down in long rows. We could also see a torso lying in front of us with no arms and no head. There was another scream.

I pulled out the .38. I took a deep breath. I wondered if I had donated to charity recently. I realized that I would still be screwed karma-wise.

"Keep sharp," Tohsaka snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, frosty like a banana split over here."

We pushed into an aisle side by side, heading towards the end of the building, where a flight of stairs led up to a box on supports: the main office. Here and there, we'd kick past decaying sleeping bags and blankets entangled with empty plastic brandy and vanilla extract bottles. It was a nice place to hate yourself.

Not too far from the main office something blasted out one of its windows. We both ducked into separate sides of the aisle we were in, and that's when I found Clive, who was trying to find his legs. He grabbed me, and whispered, "Tom got Greg."

"Tom got Greg?"

"Y-yeah." He looked at me helplessly. His hands originally had been tightened on my overcoat, but the grip was getting lax. The moonlight made his pallor border on glowing. "I don't... I don't know what... what the _hell_ that thing is..."

His gripped finally ceased. Good thing, too, because not a second later something yanked him away. All I could see were silhouettes, one lanky one on fours tearing pieces off half of one. I stumbled backwards on my ass towards Tohsaka, who helped me up and got me running.

We almost made it back to the door when what was left of poor Clive flew through the air and slammed it shut. A sickly voiced trickled through the air, "...and what is this? Who sent you?" It cackled at us, "Did you come to take it away? Or are you just stupid?" The voice got icy, "You think you can tell me what to do, is that it?!"

"Tohsaka!" I whispered. She turned and looked back at me. I said, "I want double now."

"Non-negotiable," she hissed back. "Come on, it's coming from the office."

I pulled the Taurus and crouched behind her. We stuck to the wall, taking careful, quiet steps.

Something shot past our right, and leaped up into the broken window of the office. From inside, we heard soft cooing, then the sound of hurried feet coming down the steps. The voice echoed back out to us, "I didn't think anyone would care about Greg. Or is every bit of scum scared now?"

We weren't that far off from him. He was just standing in the open, not caring about anything. He didn't look all that healthy. At first I thought he was wearing robes, but then I realized that his clothes were far too big for him. They swayed ridiculously with every step he took. He spread his arms, "I'm free now. No one owns me. All my life I had to skulk and steal and roll around in filth just to survive, but no more! None of you are my brothers! I was weak, and you took advantage of me, made me do terrible things just so I could live! No more! No more! I make my own destiny!"

"Oh sweet Jesus, he's gone completely mental." I started to pull the .357, but Tohsaka stopped me, saying, "He's baiting us."

"It's working."

"Give it a minute. I want you to distract him, to make him think there are no magi here." With that, she started to stealthily climb one of the racks. I would have given her some crap, but to be honest, I couldn't think of a better plan. If this guy was a magus, I would make him over-confident. If he wasn't, he wouldn't see Rin coming. I kept the Taurus out, and headed towards who I figured was Tom.

I wasn't sneaky enough. He turned and locked eyes with me, then stared at the gun. He smiled, "And what are you going to do with that?"

I had no answer. The kid was all skin and bones, almost literally. He didn't have cheeks, just skin stretched across his skull. I was amazed that he could stand.

His smile got wider when he noticed me gawking, "Yes, rather off-putting, isn't it? But it was necessary. I had the knowledge, but I didn't have the energy. I still managed to bind it to me. It will listen to no one else, now that he is gone."

"He? You mean Geiss?"

Tom nodded.

I asked, "Are you a magus?"

It was his turn to gawk. "Magus?" Suddenly, realization hit him, and he started laughing, "So, I've managed to scare everyone!"

"Who's the other scum? You talkin' about hoods?"

"You ask an awful lot of questions."

I shrugged, "I've always been nosy."

"Hah! Well, to answer your question, yes." His face hardened, "You have no idea, do you? What it's like to be kicked around, and they are the only ones that you can turn to for help. I've been alone almost my whole life. All I had were some books and other keepsakes from my parents. I had to join them. I had to. I would have been killed." He waved his arms, "But now I'm free!"

"Uh-huh."

"I stole the familiar from that magus. It was too easy. Now it's mine."

I started to ready the Taurus. I wasn't that nosy. But then I saw it.

It crawled down the stairs. It had the body of a lean yet muscular man. If it stood up, it would probably be almost a foot taller than me. It's skin didn't seem to fit right; it just seemed like a tight wrapping around the moving muscles. They didn't move as one. It looked like someone writhing underneath bedsheets. The hands and feet were way too big. Each hand could palm my head. They ended in sharp claws. The legs were animal-like, almost like a dog's hind legs. But its head. Its friggin' head. The bottom looked like a man's jaw, but the rest was almost completely spherical, and featureless. It had no eyes, no ears, and no mouth. It was perfectly smooth like a cue ball, and the whole monster was colored just as white.

I pointed the Taurus at it when it reached the ground. Tom chortled, "A wise choice, my friend."

I licked my lips and started to carefully back away. The creature slowly advanced, looking as if it were ready to spring at any moment. I couldn't figure out how it knew where I was.

Then Tohsaka screamed, "MIKEY! LEFT! NOW!"

I rolled left just as the creature jumped. I barely dodged it. Tohsaka's arm was glowing with her family crest, giving her away in the racks she was perched on. She fired a curse at it, but it just splashed off like throwing water on something.

Tom was laughing out of control now, "Even magi can't beat it! Nothing can!"

I watched in horror as the thing started to furiously climb towards Tohsaka. Her expression mirrored my own, and she started to clamber down. The creature changed its direction, slashing at her. It looked like it got her. I hoped that it was just her coat.

Whatever it was, it got me to pull the .357 and take aim. She was shrieking, and I think I might have been too, but I couldn't hear it. Everything got quiet as I clicked the hammer back.

I let out a breath and pulled.

I hit the thing right in the shoulder. It spun off the racks, landing on all fours, and a muffled howl escaped it. Tohsaka had thrown off her coat, and was running to its flank, but still keeping her distance, yelling, "Physical! Use physical attacks!"

I clicked the hammer again, but I also was transfixed again. The jaw on the monster seemed to be working, stretching against the skin on its face. I heard Tom's breathing getting labored, "That... that still won't... not after I give it..."

I turned to look at him. He was getting thinner. His eyes looked like they were going to retreat back into his head.

I ignored him and faced the monster. It swiped quickly at its face, leaving a cut. The jaw was able to move further, then further, and then it started to tear its own face open. Dark red blood dripped off the jaw, now able to move freely, showing a huge, wide mouth, with no tongue, with way too many rows of needle teeth.

I had been wondering where the bite marks on Sal had come from.

That mouth was also incredibly impractical.

I slapped myself in the face and took aim again, just as the creature bounded towards me with freakish speed. I panicked and fell backwards as it leaped, only barely managing to pull the Taurus with my other hand and fire three quick shots into its stomach. The thing didn't even touch me, running away while bleeding profusely, now able to howl in pain unobstructed.

Tom collapsed onto his hands and knees, whining. He had a hand on his chest, "As long as I... it can't..."

The holes started to close up on the monster, but not all of them. Tom wheezed, and fell to the floor. He didn't make a sound, save for the swish of his clothes.

The monster then went completely berserk. There were no restraints on it now. It thrashed wildly, but I saw Tohsaka running towards it, carrying a large, heavy pole. She screamed in rage as she thrust it into the monster like a lance. She was staggering, using every bit of muscle and energy she had to keep it pinned. I got to my feet and ran towards them, pointing both guns at the trapped monster. I fired, reloaded, fired, reloaded, then fired again. Tohsaka kept pushing the pipe into it. I reloaded. I fired. I reloaded. I fired. I pulled the .38, the others were all out, I aimed it...

"Mikey."

Suddenly, I was able to hear my own heaving breaths. My arm lost all of its strength, and dropped to my side. I carefully thumbed the hammer back forward.

Tohsaka's hand was on my shoulder, "Mikey."

"Yeah, I'm back." I was shaking. I turned to her, and saw that she was holding a small travel bag. I realized that she had left me there, staring at the crumpled corpse of the monster, which was starting to turn to ash. I pocketed the .38 and picked up my other dropped guns, then nodded at the bag, "What's that?"

She was shaking, too. She traced a finger over some strange markings on it, "I think this held it."

"What?"

"Don't stick your hand in there. It's not... right."

"Ah. Okay. What about Tom?"

"He's gone. He didn't have enough energy to give it, so he..."

"Yeah."

The monster turned to ash. Rin found her coat. We walked out, and I called the suit, giving him the address of the warehouse and a quick recap. Tohsaka and I parted ways. I walked into my apartment, poured myself a Jack and Coke, lit a cigarette, and thought about the money I was going to get tomorrow.

My car's in the shop, you see.


End file.
